Posters and flyers that cropped up around Italy illustrate the point.

“Woman, demonstrate that women are capable of reasoning with their head and not just the uterus,” one read. In smaller print, it went on to say: “Men, in order to satisfy their instincts, pay an Albanian woman to use her body for his pleasure. Now women are paying another Albanian woman to satisfy their reproductive instincts.” The reference was to the use of poor immigrant women as “surrogate mothers.”

None of these inflammatory messages, it should be said, were sponsored by the church.

Another poster showed provocative images of “gay pride” parades, with the slogan: “Do we want to allow them to destroy the sacredness of the family? Don’t vote June 12-13.”

Perhaps the most incendiary bit of campaign literature showed an image of Adolph Hitler with his hand on the shoulder of a blond-haired, blue-eyed youth with the slogan: “Perfect children? I’m voting ‘yes’ four times.”

On the other side, the ex-communist newspaper Unità carried a pro-referendum headline attacking the opposition: “Four million sick people condemned by a cruel law,” a reference to the prohibition on research using embryos.

Marco Pannella, leader of the Radical party and a longtime anti-clerical warrior, asserted: “If the embryo is a person, then the spermatozoa are its father, and thus we should prohibit masturbation as the homicide of millions of possible parents.”

In the past, Pannella has defined the Vatican as an “enemy of life” that seeks “to create death and sorrow on every occasion.”

One of the more creative pro-referendum posters showed an image of St. Joseph and the Holy Family, with the slogan: “Even if he’s not the biological father, what difference does it make?”

For example, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the leader of the National Alliance, a descendent of the old Fascist party, announced that he would vote “yes” on three of the four proposed reforms. (His one reservation was about opening up access to in-vitro techniques beyond heterosexual couples). Stefania Prestigiacomo, Minister of Equal Opportunity and a member of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, also supported the referendum.

Meanwhile, Francesco Rutelli, leader of the Margherita party and the candidate of the center-left as Berlusconi’s opponent in the last national elections, supported the church in the abstention campaign. Several other members of the “centrist” wing of the opposition joined Rutelli in that stance, and many observers believe that Rutelli’s position in the coalition has been strengthened by the outcome at the expense of Romano Prodi, currently projected as the leader of the center-left in the coming elections, who supported the referendum.

Given the perception of a big win for the church, the result of the June 12-13 referendum is likely to strengthen the “Catholic” voice on both sides, meaning the “culture of life” debates will be less likely to function as wedge issues between the two major coalitions. In that sense, the Italian left has so far managed to avoid being boxed into the position of the Democrats in the United States, i.e., being seen as the party of ideological secularism, leaving the Republicans to pick up the mantle of faith and values.

This phenomenon also means the church is taken more seriously as a “neutral arbiter” on moral issues, as opposed to a special interest group backing one or another of the current political alignments.

“I don’t think this is a great victory for the Italian bishops,” Galli della Loggia said. “Their role was important but not decisive.”

Fundamentally, Galli della Loggia argued, the referendum failed because it did not generate “passionate interest” among the electorate. The divorce and abortion votes, he said, directly concerned almost everyone, while in-vitro fertilization touched the lives of “a few tens of thousands.”

Yet, Galli della Loggia said, it would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of the church’s contribution. One feature in particular made it different from previous national debates – perhaps for the first time since the 1948 election between Christian Democracy and Communism, virtually every sector of the Catholic world in Italy was in lockstep. Unity among bishops, clergy, lay associations, and grassroots initiatives, Galli della Loggia said, was impressive.

How to explain it?

First, he said, the choice for abstention was “minimalist,” in that abstaining from the vote did not necessarily imply a position on the reforms. It could also mean that one didn’t believe such questions ought to be resolved at the ballot box, or that not enough information was available. In that sense, it was a “bigger umbrella” than urging a “no” vote.

Second, he said, the culture of the Catholic Church in Italy has evolved in tandem with broader ideological and cultural trends, creating less space for dissent and greater internal discipline.

“The general crisis of the left in the West,” Galli della Loggia said, “has also been felt in the Catholic world.” By that he meant that movements and individuals within the Catholic world who might challenge official positions on issues such as the referendum today have reduced momentum within the church, and are less likely to be bolstered by allies in secular politics outside.

I asked Galli della Loggia about complaints that the church was guilty of what the Italians call ingerenza, meaning unacceptable interference in political matters. This was the thrust of a June 16 editorial in the New York Times, for example, which suggested that the Italian bishops had attempted “to dangerously tamper with democracy to impose their rules on everyone else.”

“The church has the right to express its views,” Galli della Loggia said. “As far as I can tell, ingerenza is a word used to describe behavior that somebody doesn’t like. The same behavior would be praised as good citizenship by somebody who happens to agree with what the church is saying.”

He also noted that the hierarchy did not threaten to excommunicate anyone for failing to abstain, and that according to one estimate, 11,000 of the 25,000 parishes in Italy did not use the anti-referendum materials sent out by the bishops’ conference, which would suggest fairly wide latitude within the church.

(In fact, one Italian theologian did lose a teaching position after having said publicly that he intended to vote “yes” on three of the four reforms. Fr. Rodolfo Zecchini, who taught ethics at a theological studies center named San Zeno in Verona, was removed by his bishop. Zecchini also told a local newspaper that it is “debatable” whether an embryo is a human being).

Finally, Galli della Loggia said he believes the Italian victory may embolden the church in other European countries, especially in Spain, where that country’s Senate is set to debate a gay marriage law June 22. A massive street procession is scheduled for this Saturday in opposition.

“Up to now, the Spanish bishops have been on the defensive,” Galli della Loggia said. “This may encourage them to pass to the counter-attack.”

Estimates of anticipated turnout range from 500,000 to one million.

Most immediately, Saturday’s rally expresses opposition to a new gay marriage law, which also provides adoption rights to gay couples. The Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has also vowed to speed up divorce, to relax restrictions on abortion, to liberalize access to fertility treatments, to convert religious instruction in Spanish schools into “education for citizenship,” and to reexamine the system of state funding for the church.

Bishop Juan Antonio Reig of Segorbe-Castellón recently defined the government’s efforts as “a tsunami of legislation … aimed at the destruction of Christian civilization.”

The ill will has even surfaced in haggling over details for the rally. Government officials have so far declined to issue permits for the procession’s planned route, claiming that it would impede traffic flow in Madrid. Organizers point out, however, that such concerns did not stop the government from authorizing a group of nude bicyclists to pass through the city center last weekend.

Spain is an increasingly important focus in the battle against the “dictatorship of relativism,” and next week I’ll have a report from the front.

The failure to come to agreement has been a long-running nuisance in Vatican-Israeli relations, and has at times threatened to complicate the broader Jewish-Christian relationship. Periodically breakthroughs have been predicted, only to fall apart at the last minute.

The parties are continuing to meet, but perhaps to avoid the cycle of raised expectations followed by frustration, they are deliberately not saying much about the content of these encounters.

One matter illustrating the difficulties that still encumber the relationship will come before Israel’s High Court of Justice (more or less its Supreme Court) on June 29, when oral arguments are scheduled in a case involving the tax status of a pilgrimage center owned by the Archdiocese of Cologne on the Sea of Galilee. Like many church-administered institutions in Israel, the center was recently hit with a substantial bill for back taxes by the regional authority. When it invoked the Fundamental Agreement to justify suspension of the tax bill until agreement is reached on financial matters, the regional authority appealed to the national government, which stated that the Fundamental Agreement is not yet a matter of binding Israeli law. In a complicated series of events, the matter ended up before the high court.

Israeli authorities say that the court will likely not render a judgment, awaiting resolution of the negotiations between the Holy See and the Israeli government. Those authorities also say that in the end, the pilgrimage center, like other church-run activities, will not have to pay the tax bill, which in some cases involves sums that could cripple these institutions.

The Israeli game plan, these authorities say, is for whatever agreement is worked out to be written into national law, so that the rights and obligations of both parties are clear. When that happens, they say, cases such as that involving Cologne’s pilgrimage center will no longer be an issue.

Parties on all sides say that the broad outlines of an agreement exist, and that it’s a matter of patience and good will to bring the negotiations to conclusion. Only time will tell if this bit of optimism has a better possibility of being realized than those that have preceded it.

The meeting takes on an added layer of significance given that in years past, some Christian conservatives have seen the WCC as unacceptably liberal, and there have been question marks about the extent to which Pope Benedict would see groups such as the WCC as promising interlocutors.

Dr. Samuel Kobia, a Methodist minister from Kenya, told reporters in Rome June 16 that his meeting with the pope touched on three points: “spiritual ecumenism,” especially the need to defend shared values in a constantly-changing world; the challenge of secularity in Europe; and Africa, including the need for deep catechesis to solidify the rapid spread of Christianity on the continent.

“What kind of Christianity are we talking about?” Kobia asked. “There’s a proliferation of groups and individuals who approach the gospel as a way of making money. In Africa, we say that faith in Christianity is two miles long and two inches deep.”

Interestingly, Kobia said he and the pope did not discuss a fourth point that Kobia raised in his written statement, which is differing ecclesiological positions between Catholics and many other Christian denominations. Kobia called for work towards “mutual recognition of churches as churches”; as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the pope was responsible for a 2000 document, Dominus Iesus, that said Protestant churches lacking valid ministers and sacraments cannot be considered churches “in the proper sense.”

Kobia extended an invitation to Pope Benedict to visit the WCC in Geneva.

In his remarks, Pope Benedict reciprocated the desire for good relations.

“The commitment of the Catholic Church to the search for Christian unity is irreversible,” the pope said. “I therefore wish to assure you that she is eager to continue cooperation with the World Council of Churches.”

Ironically, Regina Mundi marked its fiftieth anniversary just last year.

Regina Mundi is administered by the International Union of Superiors General, the main umbrella group for women religious in the Catholic Church. The leadership of the UISG cited financial difficulties as the basic factor behind the closing, coupled with declining enrolments.

In that sense, one faculty member described Regina Mundi as a “victim of its own success.” It was founded at a time when there were almost no other options for women to pursue advanced theological studies in the Catholic Church. Today, similar institutes exist all over the world.

Located on the Via Lungotevere Tor di Nona in Rome, on the banks of the Tiber River, the Regina Mundi currently has a student population of some 250 women religious from various parts of the world, mostly from Africa, Asia, and the Near East.

The institute offers two basic programs.

One is a three-year academic program leading to the equivalent of a baccalaureate in religious sciences, which can become a master’s degree after an additional year of study. The second is a course for “formators,” women involved in the formation of other religious – mistresses of novices, vocations directors, spiritual directors, retreat planners, and so on.

“It’s balanced, very international, and both pastoral and practical,” Sr. Judith Moore of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary, said of the formators program. Moore said her community has sent eight sisters, most from the Pacific, to the program.

Technically, according to Sister of Mercy Clare McGovern, president of Regina Mundi, what has been announced is a “suspension” of the institute rather than a formal closing. Regina Mundi has been through one such hiatus before, from 2000 to 2002. This time, however, sources say it is unlikely that the institute will be re-opened.

Regina Mundi was founded on October 18, l954, during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. A precursor came in 1943 at the University of Notre Dame in the United States, when Sr. Mary Madeleva Wolff, a religious of the Congregation of Holy Cross, was concerned by the fact that no graduate schools of theology were open to the laity, mostly women, who taught religion.She began the first graduate program in Sacred Theology and Scripture, later recognized by the Vatican as a model for Regina Mundi.

McGovern told NCR June 14 that the students at Regina Mundi have largely found places at other Roman universities to continue their studies, such as the Gregorian University, the Lateran University, and the Urban University (the university for students from “mission countries” operated by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples).

Some members of the Regina Mundi community have expressed disappointment with the closure, arguing that while alternatives exist, few provide the specialized support that women from developing countries may need. Still, all concur that the situation for women pursuing theological study is vastly improved from the time of Regina Mundi’s founding, and that changed landscape is undoubtedly the heart of its legacy. 

The council was at it again this week, applauding the decision of the G8 to cancel $40 billion in debt owed by 18 developing countries, and to work to expand the debt forgiveness plan to an additional 20 countries.

The council made, however, two additional points.

First, the council indirectly asked the governments of these countries to ensure that the money released from debt repayments go to the public good.

“The Pontifical Council calls for the money that will now be freed to be used to bring about real and sustainable development opportunities to the people of those countries,” its June 14 statement said. “This can be accomplished through providing necessary public goods such as clean water, safe sanitation, basic health care and educational opportunities.”

Second, the council prodded developed countries to do more on behalf of the world’s poor.

“It is the responsibility of the governments of all nations to continue to work toward achieving the promises that have been made over the past thirty years,” the statement said. “This includes the commitment to provide 0.7% of GDP of developed countries as Official Development Assistance to developing countries.The promise was made, but only a small fraction of that money has ever been provided.This is the sort of program that should go hand in hand with debt relief.It is not enough to simply wipe away the debt.An increase in development aid should follow.”

“Those living in extreme poverty, who live with little hope for a brighter future for themselves or their families must be given the opportunity to share in the benefits of the world.It is the hope of this Pontifical Council that the decision to forgive this initial $40 billion in debt might simply be the first of many steps taken by all developed countries to work toward true solidarity with one another,” the statement concluded.